Preferences:

From the Eastern USA this perennial likes full sun, will tolerate light shade (but the stems get taller and weaker), and prefers rich moist soils, generally grows around streams and marshes.

Cultural Practices:

Propagation - Barely covering the seeds sow at 10 - 16 degrees for 30 - 90 days. The plants are divided in fall.

Culture - For herbal use harvest the root in the late fall of the plant's second or third year and dry. The crown can be replanted and the plant will be harvestable in two or three years again.

The top part is cut when in bud and dried for tea.

Landscape Value:

Native Americans used the plant to eliminate gravel or stones from the kidney or bladder; hence, the alternate common name Gravel Root. For Europeans the root has been used for lower back pains, gout, and rheumatism. Will be combined with Lamium album for prostrate problems.